Vivek Ramaswamy exploring 2024 presidential run

The son of Indian immigrants plans to launch an ideas-based campaign focused on revitalizing the American spirit

Nikki Haley, it appears is not the only Indian American Republican running for President in 2024.

Millionaire businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, who declared war on “woke” culture with his New York Times bestseller ‘Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam’, is also exploring a presidential run.

“Yes, I am strongly considering it,” Ramaswamy confirmed to Fox New Digital. Ramaswamy is exploring a presidential run, according to Politico.

Read: Indian American Vivek Ramaswamy raises $1.1 billion for Roivant Sciences (August 11, 2017)

“He was in Iowa, where traditionally the primary contest begins, last month “testing, among other things, whether his warnings about the dangers of ‘wokeism’ and socially-responsible investing — in business vernacular what’s called environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing — has political currency with Republican politicians, business leaders and, yes, farmers.”

“Ramaswamy has a theory for how this will all go,” Politico said. “He wants to pull off what Donald Trump did in 2016: enter the race with an entrepreneurial spirit, unorthodox ideas, and few expectations, and end up developing a major following that will carry him to the presidency — even if it seems like a long shot at the moment.”

The son of Indian immigrants — his father a General Electric engineer and his mother a geriatric psychiatrist — Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati.

He attended Harvard for undergrad and then Yale Law. He made his name first by becoming a successful biotech entrepreneur and developing medicines, including five drugs that became FDA-approved.

More recently, after writing two books and traveling the country, he started Strive, a new asset management firm that competes against the likes of BlackRock but differentiates itself by telling companies to stay out of politics.

Ramaswamy doesn’t necessarily want to run on his businessman track record, according to Politico. Instead, he is planning to launch an ideas-based campaign focused on revitalizing the American spirit and bringing back a culture of merit into society.

Read: Vivek Ramaswamy, Apoorva Mehta make Forbes’ cut of richest entrepreneurs under 40 in the US (November 19, 2015)

“I believe that I’ve developed a vision for American national identity that I have deep conviction for and is the product of my own journey of having lived the gifts that this country has afforded me,” Ramaswamy was quoted as saying.

“And the combination of both doing it intellectually and having personally experienced that vision of our nation makes me well suited to articulate that and deliver on it.”

Ramaswamy has made hundreds of appearances on cable news and become regarded as one of the intellectual godfathers of the anti-woke movement. In turn, the prospects of entering politics became more and more alluring.

He first considered pursuing elected office in 2021, when he weighed making a bid for Senate in his home state of Ohio. He eventually chose not to.

“One of your main jobs as a senator is to make laws, and I came to understand that many senators were not interested in engaging in that job,” he was quoted as saying. “Their goal was to get on cable television, and I was already on cable television.”

Ramaswamy told Politico his trip to Iowa and other prep work he’s doing for a potential run are serious; this isn’t a play for attention.

He has already fashioned a policy platform: defeating China economically, firing the “managerial class” of the federal government, drastically changing or shutting down large numbers of federal agencies, reforming the national security apparatus and shunning affirmative action.

What may be his most vital political asset are the resources he would bring to the race, Politico said noting Ramaswamy’s net worth is reportedly in excess of $500 million, enough to seed his campaign through the key early states.
For the time being, he’s embarking on test runs and fact-finding missions.

“I think the GOP has a historic opportunity to answer the question of what it means to be an American at the moment where we lack a national identity,” he said.

Read: Axovant Sciences founded by Indian American Vivek Ramaswamy has biggest US biotech IPO (June 12, 2015)

Since his Iowa trip, Ramaswamy has continued to take steps that someone prepping for a long-shot presidential bid might take.

Despite his daunting chances of success, Ramaswamy does seem likely to take the plunge, according to Politico.

His wife, Apoorva, who he said would be an “excellent” first lady, has told him that “her gut instinct” is that if he joins the race, “there’s a very good chance that you’ll win so make sure you’re ready for that.”

He’s only slightly less optimistic. “You know, maybe all of this is ill-advised and I’ll fall flat on my face,” he told Politico. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”